Days of Shade and Sunlight

Three overlaying realities struggle to find common ground

Episode 3.5 "The Past, Present and Pocket Future"

1

OCT/09

The following morning a bright and clear Sunday brought some downtime with it as well as a desire on both Charles and Colin’s part to investigate the past. The first trial had revealed to Colin that His older Sister Margaret had exhibited some type of strange abilities the very day He took off running at super-speed from His families home without looking back. He had no idea that His Sister or possibly both Sister and Brother were also mutants. The death of His parents in a car bombing had consumed Him with anger and grief and all He wanted to do was escape from the one place that was painful. Home. When Emma informed the two of them that they had about six days of free time to do with as they wished Colin made the immediate decision to return to Belfast Ireland and visit His old home. Packing hastily and leaving via the magic of the Tower of the Sunlight He misrepresented Himself to the Irish customs agents and was detained. They had His face and name in the database as partial registration to the mutant roster. Colin was given a brief chance to update this and disengaged the alarms and perhaps some of the suspicion of the approaching guards but He opted to utilize His instant return to the Tower spell and vanished to reappear back in His private quarters. This time He took measures to create a believable Irish Passport and Documentation as well as a external disguise. He passed through customs and made His way via taxi back to North Belfast and His old neighborhood.

Colin came across two police officers approaching His childhood house and kept across the street out of sight as to watch them and see what they were doing there. The door was answered by a tall muscular man in his early 30’s with a black eye patch and a five o’clock shadow. He looked at the photograph that the police officers presented Him and then before yelling at them and swearing He spit on it. Colin was not sure that this man on the front doorstep was His elder Brother but He decided to approach the officers and ask who they were looking for. The police already agitated by the man at the door scolded the now disguised Colin and told HIm to mind His own business that this was an official Irish Police investigation. The police left abruptly and Colin took a moment to watch His old Home spotting some upgrades to the side of the House where the front door and second floor staircase would of been. Taking a walk down and around the block Colin decided to look around for other landmarks that might stand out. His old boxing gym where He trained as a lad was now a shell of itself a delapitated building. Turning to cross the street He was almost face to face with the man from His old Home, and at this close inspection Colin could now see this man was indeed His elder brother having their father’s features. The two of them exchanged words as to why Colin would be watching His house and already walking into the Pub on the corner Nick invited the disguised Colin inside. They talked briefly some more as Nick picked up a few cases of draft and then began to walk back to the house. Nick let on that He could tell this was Colin simply by the miraculous power of deduction, what odds were there that cops would be looking for the great boxing champion at His home and then a stranger appears. Colin waited until He was inside to drop His disguise and the two had a long and interesting conversation. Colin learned that they were indeed all mutants and possibly even their late parents, He found out that His sister went under cover in the “Midnight Hour” faction almost 4 years prior and She didn’t return. Taking a trip down to the basement He found all of His old boxing gear as well as a new punching bag for His 15th Birthday from His late Father. There He found a memorial as well set up for the fallen friends of Nick and Margaret Norforth. Nick a metaplasmic morph was able to shift any part of all of his body into various forms or shapes, fingers to knives or full and total object mimicry a very sought after ability for infiltration. Colin told Nicholas that He was working for a individual that was looking to stop both the Rune Witches madness as well as that of Ares and His militant Mutant Faction which equally seemed like madness. Nicholas decided that He would be better off taking a trip to Toronto and finding a new place to cook His fish and chips as the neighborhood had fallen apart slowly and although He was very bitter about Colin’s running away He was still His blood and family was a bond not easily broken.

Meanwhile….

Colin didn’t stop to tell Emma or Charles of His plans and trip. Charles didn’t seem very put off by this as He could scarcely tell what Colin was really about from the brief time they had spent together. He was powerful but not very focused and Charles’s years in the dojo were in efforts to always keep His own focus strong and in a forward moving direction. The news delivered via Emma of the death of His Mentor, Alexander Thantris was a dull ache deep within His heart. The reports claiming that He was mobbed by a group of five or six runed assassins near a frequently visited electronics store in the normal Toronto streets came even hard to Charles to believe. The seriousness of all of this would not be realized over a week of reflection and Charles had to at least visit His grave and pay last respects to a man who was a very influential and important figure to Him. Thinking on it during the day He decided to venture there during the early morning hours. Perhaps this was a trap or someone could be watching the grave site to see who shows up. Charles took the visage of a younger man with very similar features who could easily pass as a son. Alexander Thantris was a very private man who kept many of the details of His a secret. No one would be the wiser other then actual family so it seemed like a sound disguise. Charles left at close to two in the morning to arrive at North York Cemetery. The Thantris Mausoleum was situated in the back of the grounds where the long time Torontonian families had their plots.

Arriving at the proper Mausoleum took virtually no time to find with it ornate metal, glass and crystalline architecture. Charles spotted a life sized statue of His late Mentor through the glass doors resting an a small stone dais. Moving inside the dimly lit foyer He could see a black and silver scroll case hanging from the statues neck. The case was covered in runic sigils that Charles could discern where meant for His understanding, lifting the case from around the statues neck He opened it to discover inside there was only a small silver signet ring with a ruby and amber setting. Placing it upon His finger the statue suddenly moved its arm up and extended a finger as if asking for the ring back. Placing it upon the statues finger the arm lowered once more and the entire room seemed to be sinking but in reality the statue was not moving down but the floor around it upward toward the ceiling. The ceiling an illusion faltered momentarily as the thick stone platform came to its final rest inside a new smaller foyer. Charles found Himself face to face with His mentors preserved body encased in some type of crystal obscured enough to respect the person inside and only vaguely show features of the deceased body. Sitting on the floor at the base of the statue a circular dish with 5 colored crystal orbs and encircling the room mosaics with indentations to accept these orbs would lead to the opening of a portal to another place. Charles knowing this was His Mentors handiwork or suspecting as much quickly solved the riddle and opened a large smokey portal. Stepping through He found Himself on the front lawn of an expansive mountain top estate and after a brief scuffle with a masked attacker Charles found a strange energy covered the front doors and windows and on the stoop an ornate silver coffer with an indentation lie waiting to receive some object. Investigating the mask and clothing left behind by the attacker that quickly fell apart once bound in air bands. The mask seemed to fit the coffer and the way ahead was made clear. Once inside a pale faced man with dark red hair and black clothing emerged to explain to Charles that He was named Duncan and that He was created by magic to serve the Manor’s residents and in fact the entire place was inside a pocket dimension. Charles soon discovered other coffers in other rooms, the study, the gym, the greenhouse, the master bedroom and then the basement and once He had figured out what masks went where and what items found inside He found His way to the basement.

Charles discovered a computer terminal and strange optical discs, crystal key cards and a journal. Completing yet another puzzle He activated the computer system and was greeted on the screen by the moving image of His late mentor Alexander. The truth was that He had not been killed by the runed assassins as once believed. The ruse was to ensure that Windem Haas was none the wiser that his true nature had been revealed but Charles was in mortal danger. Leader of the “The Rising Sun” the mantle would now move to secretly to Charles but in time. Alexander told Charles to be aware of the following facts. Windem Haas was a very twisted individual and not to be trusted. The next mission that Charles and perhaps the mutant He conspires with would lead them to one of tow places. The first being a very well recognized Bio-dynamics Corporation in which they would be expected to eliminate two targets that were secretly developing chemical weapons for Ares Grey. The second mission would be to a highly classified American Military Base where they would be set up to be eliminated by a group of mercenaries. Alexander cautioned Charles to return to the Tower and remain silent even to the mutant He worked with unless He felt He cold be trusted. During the next mission a representative of Alexander Thantris would make themselves known and offer an exit strategy out of their having to kill or be killed. The most revealing piece of information though was that the so called Rune Witch was in fact the Wife of Windem Haas or perhaps one of the three women believed to be this witch were. The particulars were still unverified but they helped to shape the true motivations of Windem but were they shared by Emma as well? Charles returned to the Tower late in the evening to discover something had changed…